Chrysler to Recall Fire-Prone Jeeps to Add Trailer Hitches

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Jeep Grand Cherokees from the 1993-98 model years are among the models covered by the recall.CreditIFCAR, via Wikimedia Commons

By Christopher Jensen

Jan. 10, 2014

After announcing a recall last June over a rear-impact collision fire hazard, Chrysler is finally preparing to recall nearly 1.6 million 1993-98 Jeep Grand Cherokees and 2002-7 Jeep Liberty S.U.V.'s. The fix the automaker is using to correct the problem – the vehicles’ fuel tanks are exposed to rear impacts – is controversial: Chrysler will install trailer hitches to protect the fuel tanks and reduce the chance of fires caused by rear-impact collisions.

“Chrysler Group has finalized replacement part design and is initiating the tooling process to deliver the required volume,” Chrysler said in a statement Thursday evening. “Launching a safety recall demands complex engineering and close collaboration with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration well before we accumulate replacement parts. Chrysler Group takes seriously its commitment to customer safety.”

Eric Mayne, the Chrysler spokesman who issued the company’s statement, declined to answer questions about the timing of the recall.

Nathan Naylor, a spokesman for N.H.T.S.A., said in a telephone interview that the investigation into Chrysler’s remedy was continuing.

Chrysler agreed to the recall under pressure from the safety agency, which contended that the vehicles were more likely than similar models from competitors to catch fire when struck from the rear. The reason is that the Jeeps’ gas tanks are behind the rear axle, making them more vulnerable to rear impact. Chrysler denied that allegation, telling the agency that the vehicles were safe.

Consumer groups, including the Center for Auto Safety, have questioned the effectiveness of using a hitch, which is designed to tow trailers, as a protective device for rear-impact collisions. The center asked N.H.T.S.A. to conduct crash tests of the proposed remedy, but the safety agency had not commented on whether it would.

In a 2011 deposition during a wrongful-death suit involving a rear-impact fire in a 1996 Grand Cherokee, François J. Castaing, Chrysler’s vice president for engineering in 1988-96, said, “The tow package does not protect the tank.”